RPT-Newmont cuts 120 jobs at Nevada gold mining operation

TORONTO, Jan 10 (Reuters) - Newmont Mining Corp, the world's No. 2 gold producer, is cutting 120 jobs at its Carlin mining operation in Nevada after deciding to reduce the life span of one mine and suspending part of another due to a wall slide, a spokesman said on Thursday.

The Denver, Colorado-based company announced the cuts to its workforce and union on Jan. 7 and is in the process of informing affected employees, Newmont spokesman Omar Jabara said.

Newmont said in its third-quarter results announcement in October that it was taking a write-down due to a change to the mine plan of the Emigrant open-pit mine at Carlin that would reduce its life span, originally set at 14 years.

Newmont also cut overall production guidance for its North American operations for 2018, citing a 12-percent drop in gold production at Carlin in the quarter ended Sept. 30 from a year earlier.

With seven mines, Carlin is the biggest of four Newmont gold mining operations in Nevada.

Jabara declined to specify why the mine plan was changed at the Emigrant mine, which started operating in 2012, but said plans can change for a variety of reasons including the gold price and costs of processing.

He added that operations in part of the Gold Quarry open-pit mine in Carlin were suspended for clean-up after a wall slide.

Newmont employs a total of about 5,000 people, including contractors, in Nevada, according to the company's website.

The company doesn't anticipate any further layoffs at Carlin, Jabara said.

Newmont shares closed up 1.3 percent at $34.82 in New York, compared with a 0.5 percent gain in the Dow Jones Industrial Average. (Reporting By Nichola Saminather Editing by Sonya Hepinstall)